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It’s easy to appreciate the exasperation of Greece’s northern EU neighbors. Germany in particular has had it with the profligacy of Greek politics and politicians who have put their country in hock for a sum it will never be able to fully repay. However, the harsh and unforgiving austerity demanded by the country’s creditors is only deepening the problem. Greece will not stand up, dust itself off and “get to work” until it is allowed simply to stand up.
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A few days ago I opined that certain GOP presidential candidates like Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Ted Cruz had exactly zero chance of securing their party’s nomination in 2016. The same hold true on the other end of the political spectrum, where Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is taking on the well-moneyed juggernaut otherwise known as Hillary Clinton. Sanders’ brand of populist socialism and excoriation of the one-percent is proving quite popular with the Democratic base, though. His recent two-month take of $15 million in contributions and standing-room-only campaign appearances suggest that Hillary’s fore-ordained road to the nomination might well be a bumpy one.
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Granted, one is a small city nestled in Pennsylvania’s coal country, and the other a nation that long ago gave humankind the concept of democracy and some of history’sgreatestthinkers. But the current political and financial parallels between li’l ol’ Scranton and Greece are worth noting.
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Republicans have tried six ways from Sunday to repeal, defund, hobble, gut and otherwise kill the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. King v. Burwell, decided yesterday by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of the Obama administration, was likely the party’s last, best hope in its pursuit of … what, really? Denying affordable health insurance coverage to 6.4 million Americans based on nothing more than a persnickety, legalistic definition of a six-word passage our of a nearly 5,000-page piece of legislation?

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Republicans and th right have been taking justifiable flak from the Democrats and the left for playing pick-and-choose with regard to Catholicism. Pope Francis’ repeated warnings about global economic inequality, the dangers of unbridled capitalism and the threats posed by man-made climate change hardly square with their world view (let alone those of their mega-rich corporate underwriters); it’s pretty clear that the GOP would prefer the pope stick to matters regarding motherhood and who is allowed to marry whom.

Still, the left is every bit as guilty of playing the same game, playing theological favorites in opposition to the right. So what’s a Holy Father to do?
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Despite the fact that the city he nominally leads is circling the financial drain, Scranton Mayor Bill Courtright signed a letter to state officials last month stating that the city would guarantee $15 million in loans to help repair the parking garage underneath the even-more-destitute Steamtown Mall (which incidentally already owes the city $18 million in another matter). His letter assured the state that he had the full backing of the city council, which it turned out was news to the city council.